Fixed mass · gu jia

Also rendered: Fixed mass (This site) · Stubborn conglomeration (Literal) · Cold-bound accumulation (Clinical)

Reviewed · 2026-10-31

At a glance

Pinyin: gù jiǎ
Simplified: 固瘕
Literal: 固 gù is firm, set, closed on every side — 《說文》 defines it as four-sided enclosure; 瘕 jiǎ is a mass in the abdomen that gathers and scatters, the graph built on illness with 叚 for its sound. Put together, 固瘕 is a mass that does not scatter: cold, water and grain bound fast in the middle, so that what should pass stays.
Shuowen: **《說文》：「固，四塞也。」「瘕，女病也。」** 瘕本謂腹中積聚，時聚時散；加「固」則言其結而不散。**六至十篇一見**，在第八篇行486。**與「燥屎」對舉**：燥屎爲熱結，固瘕爲寒結；燥屎大便鞕而難下，固瘕大便初鞕後溏。一宜攻，一宜溫，形似而性相反。

In brief

A fixed mass formed when cold takes hold in the yang brightness stomach. The chapter’s signs are these: the patient cannot eat, urine does not pass freely, and the hands and feet sweat continuously — sweat that comes not from heat but from the cold driving what is left of the fluids outward. The stool is hard at first and then loose, because the stomach is cold and water is not separated from grain. The name matters: 燥屎 is heat bound, 固瘕 is cold bound, and the two look alike at the outset — no stool, a full abdomen — while the stool that follows tells them apart. To purge a 固瘕 as though it were dry stool is to extinguish the little yang that remains.

Senses in the classical corpus

中寒欲作固瘕此欲作固瘕

中寒不能食、小便不利、手足濈然汗出，是胃中冷而水穀不別；故大便初鞕後溏，非燥屎之比

Cold in the middle, no appetite, scant urine, hands and feet sweating steadily: the stomach is cold and water is not separated from grain. Hence the stool is hard at first and then loose, and this is not to be taken for dry stool.

陽明病，若中寒不能食，小便不利，手足濈然汗出，此欲作固瘕，必大便初鞕後溏。 — 辨陽明病脉證并治第八

Occurrences in the classics

Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.

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1 passages

辨陽明病脉證并治第八·辨陽明病脉證并治第八 Read in context →

陽明病，若中寒不能食，小便不利，手足濈然汗出，此欲作固瘕，必大便初鞕後溏。所以然者，以胃中冷，水榖不别故也。阳明病，若中寒不能食，小便不利，手足濈然汗出，此欲作固瘕，必大便初硬后溏。所以然者，以胃中冷，水谷不别故也。

yáng míng bìng ruò zhòng hán bù néng shí xiǎo biàn bù lì shǒu zú jí rán hàn chū cǐ yù zuò gù jiǎ bì dà biàn chū yìng hòu táng suǒ yǐ rán zhě yǐ wèi zhōng lěng shuǐ gǔ bù bié gù yě

In yangming disease struck by cold, with inability to eat, difficult urine, and continuous sweating of hands and feet, a fixed mass is about to form, and the stool must be hard at first and then loose. The reason is that the stomach is cold and water and grain are not separated.

「初鞕後溏」四字，是辨寒結與熱結之眼；誤作燥屎而攻之，則胃冷愈甚。

Compounds built on this term

固瘕

gù jiǎ

fixed mass

辨陽明病脉證并治第八

瘕

jiǎ

abdominal mass

辨陽明病脉證并治第八

燥屎

zào shǐ

dry stool

辨陽明病脉證并治第八

水穀不別

shuǐ gǔ bù bié

water and grain not separated

辨陽明病脉證并治第八

How it has been translated

Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.

This site	fixed mass	keeps 固 as fixedness and 瘕 as a mass
Literal	固 conglomeration	exact, but needs the gloss
Clinical	cold-bound accumulation	explains it, drops the name

Entry status

Review pending — who reviews this?

2026-10-31

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